I would love to watch this video, but the stupid god damn Tekken movie ad has broken it. Dear Escapist, stop sticking crappy pop-out ads on your website.
I'm glad we are going to get a Hayes Code episode, too. It is one of my favorite things to teach about. Too bad we won't get anything more on the rock'n'roll teensploitation films of the 50s/early 60s.Falseprophet said:In retrospect, it's not surprising Hollywood missed the boat with teenagers. Adolescence as a social institution didn't really come about until around the 40s and 50s. Most people, especially in the Depression era, couldn't afford to go to school past their pre-teen years. They needed to work, probably to help support their families, and if they weren't treated as adults they were definitely adults-in-training. Post-war prosperity meant more children could stay in high school well into their teens, and that shared social experience, along with other indicators of prosperity like automobiles, was the foundation of North American adolescent culture.
It was, for the most part. Overall, we're definitely better off with it behind us. On the other hand, a drama teacher friend of mine has a bit of a soft spot for it. When sexuality couldn't be shown explicitly, films had to imply a lot with innuendo, dialogue, facial expressions and symbolism, which left a lot to the imagination. If you've ever seen the classic romantic comedy It Happened One Night, the "Wall of Jericho" is a great example of this.EverythingIncredible said:Can't wait to hear you talk about the Hay's code. Read up on it last time and it sounds like a bunch of crap.
Including the butchering of Scarface (Hawks 1932).trooper6 said:There are good films of the Hayes Code era...but...just read the Hayes Code and you'll see some of the issues with it.
It is really tricky, isn't it? I agree with you about the importance of Bonnie & Clyde and The Graduate--and I'd add in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Rosemary's Baby, and In the Heat of the Night...but I think people name Easy Rider because it comes after the end of the Hayes Code in 1968. I think it is similar to when people name the Stonewall Riots in NYC in 1969 as the beginning of the modern gay rights movement, ignoring the riots that had occurred in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, et al. even before Stonewall.tigermilk said:I would have to disagree with Easy Rider (1969) being the signifier for the birth of new/post-classical Hollywood. I would cite Bonnie and Clyde (1967) and The Graduate (1967) as the starting point for post-classical Hollywood. In these two films we see the literal undermining of a previous world order and a European influence in terms of cinematography (specifically the employment of the jump cut (see Breathless (Godard 1959)) in Bonnie and Clyde and the narratives critical of (perceived) dominant mores in both films.
I should acknowledge my opinions are mediated by my contempt for Easy Rider as a self indulgent, smug exploitation film created to placate the perceived 'counter culture'.
It is indeed tricky, film history is many things but a tidy narrative is not one of them. Speaking personally while I love Rosemarys Baby being directed by Polanski (a European director) I wouldn't consider it hugely significant in the birth of post-classical/new Hollywood (undoubtedly significant though also in the brief "legitimisation" of horror). In The Heat of the Night (and Guess Whos Coming to Dinner) while liberal in their outlook felt to me very much part of the "traditional" Hollywood. Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf while like The Graduate a year later directed by Nichols (interesting fact he was Dreamworks first choice to direct American Beauty) has a similar mode of address it feels less a damning endightment of the time it was made (perhaps partially as it was based on an Albee play written (obviously) earlier).trooper6 said:It is really tricky, isn't it? I agree with you about the importance of Bonnie & Clyde and The Graduate--and I'd add in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Rosemary's Baby, and In the Heat of the Night...but I think people name Easy Rider because it comes after the end of the Hayes Code in 1968. I think it is similar to when people name the Stonewall Riots in NYC in 1969 as the beginning of the modern gay rights movement, ignoring the riots that had occurred in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, et al. even before Stonewall.tigermilk said:I would have to disagree with Easy Rider (1969) being the signifier for the birth of new/post-classical Hollywood. I would cite Bonnie and Clyde (1967) and The Graduate (1967) as the starting point for post-classical Hollywood. In these two films we see the literal undermining of a previous world order and a European influence in terms of cinematography (specifically the employment of the jump cut (see Breathless (Godard 1959)) in Bonnie and Clyde and the narratives critical of (perceived) dominant mores in both films.
I should acknowledge my opinions are mediated by my contempt for Easy Rider as a self indulgent, smug exploitation film created to placate the perceived 'counter culture'.
On the other hand, Easy Rider, unlike all of the other films, was a non-Studio film. Most of the others were Warners or Paramount, or at the very least UA. Easy Rider was basically an indie film...so I can see the argument. Mind you, I find boomer counter culture self-aggrandizement that manifests in the form of Easy Rider worship quite tiresome...so that colors my views against Easy Rider just a bit.
Son of a ninja!Crimson_Dragoon said:I get the feeling we're going to be hearing a bit about Spielberg and Lucas next time.
Dances with Wolves:Gunnyboy said:Uh, environmental anti-war/colonialism films don't make money, and Fox even wanted Cameron to tone some of it down which he didn't. Avatar was not a sure bet. And the main story of the movie is not Jake falling for Neytiri or fighting with the Na'vi.brazuca said:The end was epic. Somehow I feel like this series will end with MovieBob saying how awesome the 1980's were for movie industry, how the 1990's only saw some good films and the 2000's struggled to compete with gaming and now Hollywood makes only safe bets. Like Fast and Furius or Avatar (new IP, but a story well known by any person above 10 years old).